Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed readiness to end the "hot phase" of the conflict with Russia in exchange for Ukraine's membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported on Friday.
"If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we must bring the territory of Ukraine, which is under our control, under the NATO umbrella. We must do it quickly," the agency quoted Zelensky as saying.
Later, Ukraine could regain territories now under Russian control through diplomatic channels, Zelensky said, adding that the NATO invitation should recognise Ukraine's internationally recognised borders.
Zelensky stressed that the ceasefire was necessary to guarantee that Russia would not "return" and seize more Ukrainian territory.
Meanwhile, the Russian side seems to be taking a very restrained approach.
The Kremlin has so far remained silent on Zelensky's remarks.
Leonid Slutsky, Chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian State Duma, commented on his Telegram channel saying: "Moscow will no longer allow Western countries to arm Kiev under the pretext of an agreement."
He called on Ukrainian politicians to give up their ambition to join NATO. "Kiev is seeking to join NATO; that is the key to moving forward, not to ending the war. The idea of freezing the conflict is also unacceptable," He said.
On Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that by autumn 2024, the Russian army had liberated 88 settlements in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporozhye and Kharkiv regions, as well as in the Kursk region, which Ukraine launched an incursion into earlier this year.
CGTN/ gnews - RoZ
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